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Published: February 29th 2008
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So we arrived in Queenstown Airport all packed for Australia, got to the desk, handed over our passports and the attendant raised her eyebrows. "Where are your visas for Australia?"....Hmmm, a good question indeed, as we were assured by Trailfinders that we didn't need them. I also had a feeling (that was subsequently proved false) that Lonely Planet was with Trailfinders on that one. A bit too much adrenaline for our liking, but it was all ok as we handed over some dosh and we were sorted, electronic visas in the cyberspace back pocket.
As Simon was in Tasmania, Row picked us up from the airport and whisked us to Coogee for a drink on their apartment balcony. The weather was nice, as joggers plodded past and the sea crashed against the cliffs. We had some great steaks on the barbie, sank a few of their home brewed beers and chatted the night away. We made our peace with Dougal the Siamese cat, and were told that if we curried favour we would be brought offerings of mice and lizards by him. That night the heavens opened and pretty much stayed open all week! This was the perfect opportunity to
Coogee, Sydney
Mark and Dougal satisfy our culinary cravings, all the things that we have missed eating in the past months on our travels. We got stuck into making two carrot cakes, and proceeded to gorge ourselves. We also tried to be good guests and whipped up a few dinners for our gracious hosts.
A couple of grey, wet days into our stay in Sydney (reminiscent of Dublin weather) , it was time to go surfin'! The McMullan siblings generous got Kate and myself a day of surf lessons on a quiet beach only accessible by 4WD. We were met in Coogee by possibly the biggest surfer dude in Australia, wearing skin tight jeans, a swooping neckline on his t-shirt exposing his chest hair, and flowing golden locks. As we got chatting to the other patrons who were mostly English, we discovered they were all on a program called Oz Intro where for your first week in Australia you hang around other people from home, who you spend your remaining time in Australia trying to get away from, and wishing you had never met them. Nightmare! Most of them were decent enough, a few attention seekers and show offs aside. En route our simpleton
surfer said he had to stop at the supermarket to get our lunch, and that he'd return in 20 mins. We thought this was a bit on the generous side for someone who grabs a loaf of bread and a cucumber from this place every day.... 45 mins later he was still not back, leading us to hypothesize that he had been mesmerized by something shiny such as tinfoil. He finally appeared, casually strolling his trolley in one hand, coffee in the other and a short time later we were away.
Once we hit the beach it was into some slimey wetsuits, (Kate refused to wear one- Row had warned her in advance and gave her the loan of her rashie instead!) and we plonked our surfboards on the sand for some theory. Once the simple 4 steps to standing were imprinted in our brains (so simple we wondered why everybody can't surf!). In was into the water then where we promptly forgot what we were taught and flopped around like seals on ice. After manys a faceplant in the sea we were both standing and surfing! It felt great to get up on the boards albeit fleetingly. A
quick lunch and a game of touch rugby later we were back in for the afternoon, trying to perfect our moves. The sea had changed a wee bit and the waves were not so cooperative, so the success was limited but still good fun!
Scared by our visa experience leaving NZ, we decided to head to the Indian consulate in Sydney and get our Indian visas sorted. After typical queuing and much bureaucracy (not to forget $) we were all set, they'd be waiting for us after our return from the outback.Chris and Gemma, a good friend of Kate's from Trinners and his girlfriend, were in Sydney for a few nights before heading off on their East Coast road trip so we met up in the swanky Opera Bar for a few posh drinks. With cracking views of the iconic edifice and The Harbour Bridge it was a great spot to catch up. However not catering for the insatiable Irish thirst (they closed at 11.30pm!, as do most Sydney nightspots), we had to head on somewhere else to continue chatting and sampling the fine Australian brewing.
Our next adventure was to head out to the outback and
work on a farm for a couple of weeks. The plan was to hire a car on Friday morning, head to The Blue Mountains 2 hours out of Sydney and enjoy spectacular views and walks, rendez-vous with Simon and his friend Tash there in the evening, and head on toward the outback. The weather had other plans however, and there wasn't a blue mountain to be seen, as the air was thick with fog. The Asian photographers weren't deterred mind you... We killed time going for tea and reading our books, and only when we drove on with Simon and Tash on board to the other side of the mountain range did the weather start to clear. Simon's colleague Peter Burke had put us in touch with the Stewart family to whom we were headed for a couple of weeks of farm work. En route we all put in a days work/getting in the way on the Saturday at Pete's farm where we mustered cattle around and did some tagging and castrating. It was a fantastic introduction to the outback, as the land was vast and sparsely populated. Our hard day was nicely punctuated by a dip in the pool
and a slap up feed by Pete's mum Victoria. As a little aside at this point I should mention that we splashed out on a spacious rental car for this trip, as there was a fair distance to be covered. Our chariot was the Toyota Aurion, a great big and extremely fast lump of car, which had little in the way of breeding. Despite being spacious and comfortable, it lacked a certain "I don't know what" as the French say. On trying to think of a celebrity to compare the car to, I came up with action movie hero Jean Claude Van Damme; Kate paused with a pensive look on her face and asked...."What did he paint again?"....(queue hysterical fits of laughter from me)..."Oh wait, he was in Merry Poppins, wasn't he?" she continued. Gold. Comedy gold.
On Sunday morning us travellers were excused from work as we were warned that we had plenty ahead of us over the next two weeks! While the others headed for the sheep, we drove out to Parkes radio telescope, famous for relaying communications and pictures between astronauts and mission control in America during the first moon landing. A whopping great 64m diameter
radio telescope, it was interesting to wander around the small museum and see the memorabilia from the moon landing. After that and another great feed, we said our goodbyes to Simon, Pete and Tash who headed back to Sydney and waited for the Stewarts to collect their new labourers!
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MichaelM
non-member comment
Good to hear from you again. Its almost like Lent abstaining from enjoyable reading for the last while.and now well worth the wait. Of course I have already heard about the vastness of the farms out there thriugh your e mails home. had an uncle living out there years ago in a place called Boorowa. It was close to the Outback. Maybe its on your map. Look forward to hearing more of your travels.